Gather together in my name /

The producer proclaims this to be the first unabridged recording of Angelou's autobiographical account, and it is long overdue. Her autobiography now encompasses five volumes, with Gather Together in My Name (1974) as the sequel to this monumental life's first chapter, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1970). This second recollection covers the next four years of Maya/Retie's life as a single mother and her struggle for love, respect, and self-worth in post-World War II California and Arkansas. The dangers and conflicts that the adolescent parent often recklessly faces are reflective of both the times and her still unformed creative spirit. Gather breaks new ground in autobiographical form, and Angelou has said that she sees it as a vehicle to revisit the past: to recover through imagination and invention what has been lost. Narrator Lynne Thigpen is dead-on with a strong reading that captures the nuances and rhythms of the author's own voice. Recommended for most collections.‘Joyce Kessel, Villa Maria Coll., Buffalo, N.Y. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.